Key Insights
- Leading reporter Eleanor Terrett has hinted at the reasons why the US SEC might decide to drop the Consensys staking lawsuit.
- According to reports, the market regulator is now more interested in staking as a cryptocurrency service.
- The commission headed by Mark Uyeda is now regarded as a more crypto-friendly regulator.
Rumor has it that the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) will probably drop its case against Consensys. The Commission’s recent stance in favor of cryptocurrency staking is the basis for this idea.
SEC Showing Interest in Staking
Journalist Eleanor Terrett of Fox Business News discussed Consensys and the SEC’s case on X.
In a post dated February 20, she drew attention to the SEC’s recent position on staking. Staking is “very, very interested,” according to the agency.
The SEC even went so far as to ask for a memo outlining the various forms of staking and their advantages.
Remember how the same Commission sued Consensys for its Metamask staking services in June 2024?
This is on top of claims that the company was conducting business in the US as an unregistered broker.
Consequently, the SEC’s recent stance on staking represents a significant shift for the organization. That has continuously rejected staking for cryptocurrency investments.
Terrett believes that the SEC should reexamine its lawsuit against the private blockchain software company based on this premise.
SEC Drops Lawsuits Against Robinhood and Coinbase
The SEC also charged Coinbase in June 2023 with breaking federal securities laws by acting as an unregistered broker.
The target was roughly 13 tokens, including Solana (SOL), Cardano (ADA), and Polygon (POL), which the agency said were under its purview.
This followed the same charges against prominent cryptocurrency exchange Binance. However, a few days ago, the securities regulator made hints about plans to drop the Coinbase case.
Recently, financial services provider Robinhood scored a similar victory after being issued a Wells Notice by the agency months ago.
In a recent letter, the SEC stated that the commission had completed its investigation and had no intention of taking further enforcement action.
This followed the SEC’s request approximately a month ago for Robinhood to pay $45 Million in penalties for several securities law violations that occurred between 2018 and 2024.
The transition in leadership from the US president to the acting SEC Chair is the cause of these changes in position.
The policies currently influencing the larger digital asset industry reflect the crypto-friendly stances of Mark Uyeda and Donald Trump.
Will Staking on Crypto ETF Products be Permitted by the SEC?
Whether the Commission will consider the Consensys case and drop its nearly year-old lawsuit is still up in the air.
Crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) might be the next to benefit from the SEC’s generosity if this commission decides to drop this lawsuit.
Staking, which has become essential to Ethereum since the platform moved to a Proof of Stake (PoS) validation method, was included in Fidelity’s 2024 spot Ethereum ETF filing revision.
The service has drawn the attention of more asset managers. Subsequently, the SEC met with representatives of Jito Labs and Multicoin Capital to discus the function of staking in PoS blockchains.
